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We are arriving from Australia on 4th June and are heading to Oxford by car for the night. From there we are heading towards Whitby for the night and then to York for 2 nts (6th -8th June already booked). Then we head to Edinburgh( 2nts booked 8th - 10th june ) after this hopefully up to:
St Andrews - 1 nt;
Glasgow 2nts.
Lakes district for 2 nts
Cotswalds - 2 nts
Bath- 2nts
Lynton - 1 nt
St Ives - 1nt
Penzance - Torquay ( 3nts hopefully with family of friends)
London -6nts ( already booked) 25th June- 1st July

We welcome suggestions as to whether we can combine some of these stays into one to visit areas. What to see etc etc!!!!

You are really all over the UK on this trip and will spend 90% of your time in the car on motorways. I know the island looks small, but driving here takes much longer than you expect, even on motorways!

I would limit your 1 night and 2 night stays (for example stay in York and do a day trip to Whitby).

I would cut Scotland from this trip as it is much farther North and will make Cornwall difficult (or cut Cornwall). It looks like you have 20 nights total before London, so I would pick 4-5 bases:

Oxford 2 nights (1 full day to see Oxford and then pick up car)
Head to York for 4 nights
Head to Lakes for 4 nights
Head to Cotswolds 4 nights
Head to Cornwall 4 nights
Head to Bath for 2 nights to cut down on the drive to London (it is hard to find 1 night accomodation in Bath and there is a lot to see - you can stop at Stonehenge/Salisbury as well)
London 6 nights

Hope this helps!

On the Scotish part of your trip you can easily be based in Edinburgh and do St.Andrews and Glasgow as day trips.
Tains run from Edinburgh to Glasgow every 15 minutes during the day and takes about 50 minutes,don't take the car.in fact cars are useless to you in Edinburgh but would be easier for a trip to St andrews,which shpuld take less than 90 minutes to drive to from Edinburgh.

must check my spelling before posting,sorry.

It's both pointless and absurdly dangerous to get off a plane after at least 24 hours' flight and a 12 hour time change, then drive to Oxford. You might get away with disorientation and slow reaction times somewhere that spreads the population of Greater London across a whole continent: they're fatal in the most crowded corner of the developed world's most congested country.

Get the bus (every half hour) from the airport to Oxford, get yourselves sorted out, get a decentish night's sleep in a bed, then collect your car. And remember that a car is an expensive nuisance to be lumbered with in York and Edinburgh, so unless there's a Cpt Cook pilgrimage involved, you might well do better to stay on public transport till Edinburgh.

There must be a lot of things you aren't telling us as your plans don't make much sense

Why for example are you going to Oxford for the night if the next day you are going to Whitby ESPECIALLY as you intend passing near Oxford later on in your trip - or can be done in a day trip from London.

Personally I'd just get the train straight to York when you arrive then do a day trip to Whitby that way you get to York a couple days earlier and have a longer stay there.

from your plans you don't need a car until you LEAVE Edinburgh.

And I can't understand the Lynton / St Ives / Penzance / Torquay leg of your trip at all

That area could be done from central base and wouldn't require the hotel hopping you intend doing.

I'd also be tempted to bypass Bath until you start returning to London as Bath isn't car friendly so you could return your car there and get the train back to London

agree w/ everything posted so far. Don't drive right off the flight. DON'T drive Oxford to Whitby the next day. Oxford is an easy day trip from either London OR the Cotswolds.

And pick up a map of the UK - - except on motorways plan on about 35 - 40 mph average. Then re calculate.

I don't know what you'll want to chop - but something has to go.

Driving from Oxford to Whitby the day after a long haul flight is not the way to start a holiday IMO. If you take trains the first few days, you could collect a car either when you leave York, or when you leave Edinburgh.

But in general - back to the drawing boards.

Be good if you didn't reduce Glasgow to a day trip....so much to see and do, and a completely different feel to Edinburgh.

Thanks for all your thoughts, I didn't intend to start open such a mindfield.
1) we are breaking our journey in HK, so will only be flying in from there. We've been there & done the long flight straight into things!!!!
2)alanRow This itinerary was suggested by friends who have visited UK many times.
3) The car has already been booked and paid for as it is cheaper doing it from here.
4) hopefully we will have friends to stay with outside Glasgow, & also at Torquay. If this occurs we figure it will give us a break from driving.
5) Any suggestions for places to use as a base in Lakes, Cotswalds & Cornwall as we really like this idea.
May look at driving from Oxford to York and do Whitby as a day trip (hopefully)

This isn't meant to be as negative as it is going to sound, but why do you ask for advice if there are parameters you do not disclose and if you intend to ignore it when offered?

You have gotten extremely good advice (Oxford is practically in the Cotswolds, for example, Bath is extremely unfriendly to cars). Consider rebooking the car for Edinburgh or at least York. Finally, the safety issue. Perhaps you are used to traveling across more wider spaces than we do in the US, but I would hardly consider HK to LHR a minor jaunt from which you can emerge to challenge the M4.

Well - your friends who suggested this plan have some very weird ideas IMHO.

Everyone who has offered suggestion either 1) is local, 2) are 'furiners' but have lived in the UK, or 3) travel there every year.

Of course it is cheaper to book a car from home -- that is a given. That doesn't change the fact that driving right off a long haul flight, driving in Oxford, and driving from Oxford to Whitby (or York) the next day are not very good ideas. You can book a car out of York or Edinburgh or Glasgow just as easily as out of LHR.

Why go anywhere near Oxford on day 1 since you will go right past it on your way back south, or can do it as an easy day trip from London. If you do want to head north right away - forget faffing about w/ driving to Oxford.

What I'd do is land at LHR, fly immediately up to Glagow (or Edinburgh), see both cities, collect a car and head south through the Lakes, York, The Cotswolds, the SW and back to LHR to drop the car and travel into London. This avoids having drive the length of the country twice, and it avoids driving right off the plane.

But if you don't want different opinions/advice -- you have >>friends who have visited UK many times<< to help you w/ it.

(it is Cotsw<B>O</B>lds btw)

Janisj Have already decided that the Whitby sidetrip will need to take place from York( if at all!!) Altho' I've already booked and paid for car am looking into whether we can amend our booking and perhaps collect one in either Oxford or York -won't be able to alter too much as we would be hit by huge fees.
It appears that many of our friends may have had cars with wings when they travelled there.
Any suggestions for places to use as a base in Lakes, Cotswolds & Cornwall as we originally were keen to have bases from which to radiate out from.

It obviously won't do any good to add my support to those who are cautioning you against your itinerary. You will only learn how wise they are when you are trying to recollect a few months later what you actually saw on your trip other than highway.

However, I can give you some advice about a base in the Cotswolds, which I understand is for 2 nights? (You are also asking for a base in the Lake District for two nights. I don't understand what you are looking for in Cornwall, aren't you spending one night in St Ives and three nights with friends?) In the Cotswolds, Chipping Campden is central and very charming. Bourton on the Water is attractive, although very busy with tourists during the day. In the late afternoon, however, it returns to the locals. If you want a bit larger town, Winchcombe is full of shops and near Sudeley Castle.

Rickmav -thanks for the suggestion. As I said they must have had wings!! We have only booked York, which we may now extend to 3nts, Edinburgh (2nts)& London (6nts). We haven't booked anything in Cornwall at this stage, we would like to see St Ives but are now thinking of a base from which can get to St Ives, Penzance,Lynton.(3nts?) If we stay with people in Torquay I think they will take us to areas around there. We may stay 3 nts in Cotswolds as well as Lakes.

"<i>Have already decided that the Whitby sidetrip will need to take place from York( if at all!!)</i>

Driving to York instead of Whitby would only cut about 40 miles/1+ hour from your day 2 route. The point was -- LHR to Oxford on day 1 and Oxford to York (or Whitby) on day 2 is a really difficult beginning.

I don't know how Oz booking fees work, but booking a car from the States, one could make changes to the car w/ small or no fees. You have built a plan to drive the full length of the country twice when that is really unnecessary. It often works best to work in a sort of linear route (something like my suggestion to fly up to Scotland and then working your way south). Or - to not try to cover so much territory in a loop drive as jamikins suggests.

Oxford to York is nearly 200 miles - that sounds like nothing in Oz, it is a looong ways in England. Maybe those friends did have winged cars -- or just maybe they thought driving past everything on motorways was 'seeing' England.

And remember - 2 nights somewhere does not equal 2 days

Janisj. I am making enquiries now regarding our car booking to see what is involved in changing the pick up point. Am now looking at training it to either Oxford or York.

just so you understand -- you cannot take 'a train' from LHR to either Oxford or York.

To Oxford you'd either have to take a bus to Oxford, or take a bus to Reading and then a train to Oxford. For York, you'd have to cross all of London to Kings Cross station on the tube, or by car service, and then catch a train to York.

There are more efficient ways to arrange your itinerary.

Oh - another option for Oxford is a train into London Paddington and then a different train back out to Oxford -- but this would cost more.

Janisj thanks for that. Unfortunately Budget only does one way hires b/n it's corporate locations - Oxford & York are not part of this. Will now investigate cancelling and restarting rental process if possible.

Given that we have paid for our hotel in York on 6th June and are unable to alter that as I've already checked, what would you suggest we do after flying in. We have night of 4th, 5th(could be in York then)

OK - w/ the 6th a given, consider something like this . . . (and still collecting the car at LHR)

Arrive at LHR, pick up car and head 7 miles to Windsor. That's it - no farther. Spend the day/night basically car-less. See the castle, the river, Eton, the Great Park - whatever.

The next morning after a good night's sleep - drive around NW London on the M25 and head north to either Stamford or Lincoln. Either would be a good stopover enroute to York. Stamford is an interesting market town near Rutland Water, and Lincoln Cathedral is magnificent. Windsor to Lincoln is about 150 miles and maybe 3.5 hours. Stamford is 50 miles closer and an hour less.

Then you have a reasonable drive to York.

Save going to Oxford until your time in the Cotswolds -- try to stay 4 nights there -- that would give you 1 day to travel to the area, 1 day for Oxford/Blenheim, and 2 days to explore Cotswold villages.

In my opinion skibunnyjan, this might be a good time for you to step back and reflect on your trip rather than trying to piecemeal together an itinerary from the suggestions you get on this board. Have you chosen the places you have - Oxford, Whitby, York, Lake District, Cotswolds, St Ives, London, etc. based on things you've long wanted to see and have read about, or on recommendations from friends, or built around free accommodation, or your own version of Amazing Race because you are action-oriented people who sleep little, or places associated with your family, etc.?

If what you want is an hour or two is a whole bunch of places the people on this site, although a bit grumpy about it, will help you with all the different air, train, bus combinations to make that work. If you are looking for a quality experience in three places over three weeks, we can help you locate the best bases from which to see all kinds of interesting things. But before you cancel things I think you should take a deep breath and really think about what will be the best, most meaningful experience for you.

I apologize if I sound preachy. But I understand what you are struggling with. We are from Canada, another large country, and in our first planning attempts assumed that as England was no larger than the province we live in, it would be a piece of cake to see everything we'd ever heard of. We now triple the time it would take to get anywhere in England vs. England, and if we get stuck in a pile-up on an M road or have to stop for a washed out B road, we don't worry that it's 3:18 and we aren't in Taunton. I also wouldn't worry much about the friends with wings - needing wings to complete an expensive, quality, adventuresome itinerary isn't really an achievement.

Rickmav

The places we really want to see are:
Cotswalds, Lakes, Edinburgh( St Andrews), York, Cornwall & Devon & other parts of London we have not really seen previously. If possible Bath. It sounds as if we can do Oxford & Cambridge as day trips from London.

One thing I am concerned about is the chances of getting accomodation at that time of year.

Usually we have arranged accom. prior to leaving eg Italy, Canada & US. This is the first time we are doing it this way, so if we could arrange a base in a few places I guess I would feel more at ease.

Appreciate your assistance & thoughts.

Sorry Janisj I didn't see your latest reply, which sounds great, given the hassle with the hire car. We have visited Windsor previously, but did not get to Eton and I like the suggestion of Lincoln Cathedral etc. Really appreciate assistance. Given time of year, would we need to pre book?

You'd want to have accommodations pre-booked in York (apparently already taken care of), Edinburgh, and the Lakes for sure. Most other places -- even in popular areas like Cornwall and the Cotswolds, you can usually find places on the fly. Weekends are tougher obviously.

But just about every town has a Tourist Information Office and they have a "book-a-bed-ahead" scheme. Say you are in York and have decided to stop along Hadrian's Wall the next night -- you go into York's TIO and have them find accommodations for the next night in Hexham or Haltwhistle or someplace. There is a very small fee for this service.

Thanks janisj have booked York & Edinburgh. Any suggestions for a base in Lakes - want to see Beatrix Potter, Lake Windermere, not sure of what else??

We stayed at a great guesthouse in Windermere, in the Lake District -

Denehurst Guest House

It was about 10 mins walk into Windermere or the other way to Bowness and the lake. The owners were friendly and helpful, room was very comfortable and there was a choice at breakfast, which is a little unusual but a welcome change. Price was reasonable too and it gets good reviews on Trip Advisor.

Kay

Thanks for the tip Kay I will have a look at it.

We stayed at Blenheim Lodge in Windermere - friendly place and reasonable rates. It had a great view from the bedroom window but the trade-off was an uphill walk back each evening. It has been some time since we were there but the recent reviews on TripAdvisor look good.

Thanks everyone, but have settled have settled on a B&B in Keswick. From there we will move onto the Cotswolds.